America the Predatory Hegemon
From The Foreign Affairs Interview by Foreign Affairs Magazine
February 26, 2026 · 57 min
About this episode
Stephen Walt discusses the concept of 'predatory hegemony' in U.S. foreign policy under Donald Trump.
President Donald Trump wields American power like few leaders in U.S. history ever have. By imposing tariffs, threatening territorial conquest, and ordering military intervention, he deploys the United States’ strength to assert dominance over friends and foes alike. Stephen Walt, a professor of international relations at Harvard, describes this uniquely Trumpian grand strategy as “predatory hegemony” in a new essay in Foreign Affairs. The central aim of predatory hegemony, Walt writes, “is to use Washington’s privileged position to extract concessions, tribute, and displays of deference from both allies and adversaries, pursuing short-term gains in what it sees as a purely zero-sum world.” Walt argues that this approach may appear to yield immediate wins, but that over time it will erode the real sources of American power, leaving the United States “poorer, less secure, and less influential.” You can find sources, transcripts, and more episodes of The Foreign Affairs Interview at https://www.foreignaffairs.com/podcasts/foreign-affairs-interview.
People in this episode
Guest: Stephen Walt
Topics covered
- U.S. foreign policy
- predatory hegemony
- international relations
- Trump administration
- military intervention
Keywords
- predatory hegemony
- U.S. power
- tariffs
- military intervention
- international relations
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Foreign Affairs, Harvard
Places: United States
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